WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s administration has pledged to kill or capture the masked Islamic State terrorist known as “Jihadi John,” who is pictured in videos beheading several hostages, including Americans.
Attorney General Eric Holder said on CNN on Friday that the U.S. “wouldn’t put anything off the table,” including sending military troops, to “hunt” the man.
He was identified by The Washington Post on Thursday as Mohammed Emwazi, a 26-year-old from London.
The unmasking of Emwazi sent shock waves through Britain on Friday.
Prime Minister David Cameron tried to defuse criticism of Britain’s intelligence community, which had Emwazi on its list of potential terrorism suspects for years but was unable to prevent him from traveling to Syria.
Cameron did not mention “Jihadi John” or Emwazi by name. He said the country’s spies make “incredibly difficult judgments” daily about how to pursue threats to national security and have broken up plots that would have caused immense damage.
